http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2009/07/01/sugarcane-the-sweet-choice-for-biodiesel/ The latest news on green cars Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:41:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/2009/07/01/sugarcane-the-sweet-choice-for-biodiesel/comment-page-1/#comment-6418 Aureon Kwolek Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:28:22 +0000 http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/?p=4839#comment-6418 Sugar is fed to heterotrophic alga, which multiplies. The algae is extracted from the growth medium, and the oil is extracted from the alga. You're going to get a bigger return out of the sugar by feeding it to algae. However, biodiesel and ethanol are going to be integrated - made from the same alga harvest, at the same biorefinery. Regardless of its lower Btu content, ethanol optomized engines are getting the same power and torque of diesel engines and the same efficiency. Biodiesel is a great fuel, but you still have to extract the oil from the alga, then perform transesterification, then dispose of the glycerine waste. Ethanol can be mixed 50-50 with water and still combust. Liquid ethanol-water can also be reformed onboard into hydrogen, simultaneously extracting half the hydrogen from the water it's mixed with. It can also be used in direct ethanol fuel cells. Biodiesel has its place, but ethanol has more protential in the long term. You can get a generator that runs on 50% ethanol and 50% water and produces 8 times the energy that went into distilling the fuel. Don't assume that biodiesel will conquer ethanol. Sugar is fed to heterotrophic alga, which multiplies. The algae is extracted from the growth medium, and the oil is extracted from the alga. You’re going to get a bigger return out of the sugar by feeding it to algae. However, biodiesel and ethanol are going to be integrated – made from the same alga harvest, at the same biorefinery. Regardless of its lower Btu content, ethanol optomized engines are getting the same power and torque of diesel engines and the same efficiency. Biodiesel is a great fuel, but you still have to extract the oil from the alga, then perform transesterification, then dispose of the glycerine waste. Ethanol can be mixed 50-50 with water and still combust. Liquid ethanol-water can also be reformed onboard into hydrogen, simultaneously extracting half the hydrogen from the water it’s mixed with. It can also be used in direct ethanol fuel cells. Biodiesel has its place, but ethanol has more protential in the long term. You can get a generator that runs on 50% ethanol and 50% water and produces 8 times the energy that went into distilling the fuel. Don’t assume that biodiesel will conquer ethanol.

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